In contemporary road vehicles, for example automobiles, personal safety has become an increasingly important issue to drivers and passengers of such vehicles. Of particular concern regarding safety is damage resulting from frontal vehicle impacts and lateral vehicle impacts. Whereas vehicles can be designed to better cope with frontal impacts, for example by using crumple zones in engine compartments as well as restraining features such as airbags, optimization of vehicles to cope with lateral impacts is technically difficult in that sides of vehicles do not provide much space for accommodating energy-absorbing structures. However, when road accident statistics are analyzed, many personal injuries arise from lateral collisions to vehicles, hence lateral impact or crash mitigation is an important issue. It is found in practice that sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and similar vehicles having a relatively elevated chassis height are susceptible in crash situations to causing considerable lateral damage to vehicles having a relatively lower chassis height, for example, modern compact vehicles.
Various approaches have been conventionally adopted for improving lateral crash protection in vehicles. For example, in a published European patent application no. EP 1 134 148, there is described a frame structure for a vehicle. The frame structure is purported to be capable of increasing collision energy absorption and includes a floor member with extruded side sill members which are adapted to undergo a lateral buckling response to side collisions while resisting axial or longitudinal deformation due to end-on collisions. The sill members are orientated with their elongate axes substantially running from a front region of the vehicle to a rear region thereof.
As a further example of conventional approaches to coping with lateral impact in vehicles, a published United Kingdom patent application no. GB 2 392 652 describes side-panel occupant protection. In such protection, a vehicle side door comprises an inner trim panel, an outer panel and a pusher block arrangement. The pusher block arrangement is aligned with a pelvic region of an occupant of the vehicle. Moreover, the pusher block arrangement is operable to be displaced towards the occupant if the outer panel is deformed due to a side impact. An air bag is provided for inflation into a region between the trim panel and the pelvic region of the occupant so as to transfer the load, in an impact, from the pusher block arrangement to the occupant for moving the occupant away from the door. Optionally, the pusher block arrangement comprises two separate components, namely an inner block and an outer block. The blocks are optionally fabricated from an energy-absorbing material such as a foam.
Although such conventional approaches for coping with lateral impact to vehicles may provide benefit, they are not always capable of providing the desired degree of protection in contemporary vehicles, for example in open-top vehicles, against lateral damage capable of being inflicted by sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and similar vehicles of relatively elevated chassis height. The challenge of providing improved protection against lateral impact represents a technical problem.
Thus, the present invention is concerned with providing an at least partial solution to this problem of providing better lateral vehicle protection, for example against lateral side impact from SUVs.